The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it was still unsatisfied after organizers of the 68th Venice International Film Festival changed the designation of the origin of a Taiwanese movie, Seediq Bale (賽德克巴萊), from “China, Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” in line with the Olympic model.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman James Chang (章計平) said the designation change, which came after Taipei protested to the festival’s organizers, was unsatisfactory.
“We are not satisfied with the change and want it [the film] to be labeled under either the official name of the country — ‘Republic of China’ — or ‘Taiwan,’” he said.
Photo: CNA
Chang said the ministry would continue to negotiate the matter with the Italian government and the organizers of the festival, which opens today.
The designation change was made to the online list of the -festival’s feature films at 2am yesterday morning.
However, on the list of countries represented at the festival, the nation is referred to as Taiwan.
Wei Te-sheng (魏德聖), the director of Seediq Bale, left for Italy yesterday to attend the festival.
Seediq Bale has been nominated for the Golden Lion award at the festival.
The movie, shortened to 150 minutes from its original four-plus hours for an international audience, is scheduled to make its world debut at 5pm tomorrow.
Before leaving, Wei addressed the controversy, saying it was better to fight back with action than with words.
“If the main response is simply to protest, then people would have nothing to see,” he said, preferring instead to use his movie to give people an understanding of Taiwan’s history and culture. “The most practical thing to do is to introduce Taiwan to the world. There’s no need to say so much.”
Taiwanese director Ang Lee’s (李安) film Lust, Caution (色戒), which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2007, was identified as being from “Taiwan, China,” after efforts by the government to have the designation changed failed because of opposition from Beijing.
Prince of Tears (淚王子), directed by Hong Kong-based Taiwanese director Yon Fan (楊凡) and nominated for the Golden Lion at the 2009 festival, was labeled “China-Taiwan, Hong Kong” and then “Taiwan-Hong Kong, China” following protests by Taipei.
Additional reporting by CNA
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data
RSS